It is an affront to the 166 innocent victims and their families that the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack have still not been convicted, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.
In one of the deadliest terror attacks in India's history, 166 people, including six Americans, were killed and over 300 injured when 10 heavily-armed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists from Pakistan created mayhem in Mumbai on November 26, 2008.
Pompeo, talking to reporters at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department here, said the cowardly attack “shocked the entire world.”
“Today also marks the 11th anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attack. We remember the 166 innocent victims, including six Americans,” he said.
“It is an affront” to the victims and families that those who did the Mumbai attack “have still not been convicted,” Pompeo said, apparently referring to chief of the banned Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) Hafiz Saeed and others escaping punishment for their role in the Mumbai terror attack.
Saeed, a UN designated terrorist and founder of the LeT, was arrested on July 17 this year in a terror financing case in Pakistan.
The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. The US has also offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.
In a separate tweet, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells also expressed deepest sympathies to the families of the victims.
“The US honours their memories and is committed to seeing those responsible for these horrific acts brought to justice,” Wells said.
Meanwhile, a large number of Indian-Americans and members of the Pakistani minority and ethnic communities gathered in front of the Embassy of Pakistan to protest against the country's role in supporting cross border terrorist activities.
They demanded that the perpetrators of the terrorist attack be brought to justice.
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